Report: Rural States Gaining in New iPad Market Share

Our iPad Tracker has been live for a little over a month, and the Chitika Insights team thought it was a good time to revisit how the iPad ecosystem has evolved since the device’s debut on March 16.
Our iPad Tracker has been live for a little over a month, and the Chitika Insights team thought it was a good time to revisit how the iPad ecosystem has evolved since the device’s debut on March 16.

In early April, The new iPad accounted for between 9% and 10% of all iPad traffic. This figure has now grown to just over 13.5% – an impressive number, especially considering our recent report confirming the iPad’s domination within the tablet ecosystem for much longer than the device’s two-month lifespan. Even the Samsung Galaxy tablet, the strongest tablet competitor in terms of usage, only has Web traffic equal to about 1/100th the rate of iPad owners.

These latest figures become even more dynamic when you consider how this device is distributed across the nation. Let’s examine the states with the highest rates of new iPad adoption:

No big surprise here – Californians are renowned for their quick adoption of new technology, at least partially driven by the state housing some of the biggest Internet companies in the world.

Nebraska

Nebraska’s number three position is undoubtedly the biggest shocker amongst the top five. Looking at developments within the state, this number three position is not quite as surprising. A Nebraska school district recently approved a 1-to-1 iPad program for its students, and a Nebraska Chamber of Commerce spokesperson told Chitika Insights that the state’s cellular and broadband communications networks have seen tremendous growth over the past several years.

Washington DC

As a large, coastal city, our nation’s capital is a big consumer of new technology. Additionally, government usage is growing – Gen. Martin Dempsey of the Joint Chiefs of Staff uses an iPad daily, and the Air Force recently agreed to purchase up to 18,000 iPads for use in cargo aircraft.

Nebraska’s adoption numbers in this second month, in addition to high adoption rates in states like Virginia, West Virginia and Alabama, indicate that rural states cannot be broadly labeled as technology laggards. Those residents are now pushing technology trends, often in greater numbers than their East and West-coast counterparts, rather than following them.

Stay tuned to Chitika Insights as we continue to monitor the progress of mobile technology products and how they are being used by the public at large.